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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
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<title>The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Software available in the Debian system</title>
<link href="index.en.html" rel="start">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html" rel="prev">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html" rel="next">
<link href="index.en.html#contents" rel="contents">
<link href="index.en.html#copyright" rel="copyright">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html" rel="chapter" title="1 Definitions and overview">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html" rel="chapter" title="2 Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="3 Choosing a Debian distribution">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html" rel="chapter" title="4 Compatibility issues">
<link href="ch-software.en.html" rel="chapter" title="5 Software available in the Debian system">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html" rel="chapter" title="6 The Debian FTP archives">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html" rel="chapter" title="7 Basics of the Debian package management system">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html" rel="chapter" title="8 The Debian package management tools">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html" rel="chapter" title="9 Keeping your Debian system up-to-date">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html" rel="chapter" title="10 Debian and the kernel">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="11 Customizing your installation of Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-support.en.html" rel="chapter" title="12 Getting support for Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="13 Contributing to the Debian Project">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html" rel="chapter" title="14 Redistributing Debian GNU/Linux in a commercial product">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html" rel="chapter" title="15 Changes expected in the next major release of Debian">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html" rel="chapter" title="16 General information about the FAQ">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-whatisfaq" rel="section" title="1.1 What is this FAQ?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-whatisdebian" rel="section" title="1.2 What is Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-linux" rel="section" title="1.3 OK, now I know what Debian is... what is Linux?!">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-non-linux" rel="section" title="1.4 Does Debian just do GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-difference" rel="section" title="1.5 What is the difference between Debian GNU/Linux and other Linux distributions? Why should I choose Debian over some other distribution?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-gnu" rel="section" title="1.6 How does the Debian project fit in or compare with the Free Software Foundation's GNU project?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-pronunciation" rel="section" title="1.7 How does one pronounce Debian and what does this word mean?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-version" rel="section" title="2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-updatestable" rel="section" title="2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-boot-floppies" rel="section" title="2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-cdrom" rel="section" title="2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-cdimage-symlinks" rel="section" title="2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-remoteinstall" rel="section" title="2.6 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-alternativebootinstaller" rel="section" title="2.7 Are there any alternative strategies for booting the system installer?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1" rel="section" title="3.1 Which Debian distribution (stable/testing/unstable) is better for me?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2" rel="section" title="3.2 But what about Knoppix, Linex, Ubuntu, and others?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-arches" rel="section" title="4.1 On what hardware architectures/systems does Debian GNU/Linux run?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherdistribs" rel="section" title="4.2 How compatible is Debian with other distributions of Linux?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherunices" rel="section" title="4.3 How source code compatible is Debian with other Unix systems?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherpackages" rel="section" title="4.4 Can I use Debian packages (".deb" files) on my Red Hat/Slackware/... Linux system? Can I use Red Hat packages (".rpm" files) on my Debian GNU/Linux system?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-non-debian-programs" rel="section" title="4.5 How should I install a non-Debian program?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-termcap" rel="section" title="4.6 Why can't I compile programs that require libtermcap?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-accelx" rel="section" title="4.7 Why can't I install AccelX?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-motifnls" rel="section" title="4.8 Why do my old XFree 2.1 Motif applications crash?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-apps" rel="section" title="5.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-softwareauthors" rel="section" title="5.2 Who wrote all that software?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-pkglist" rel="section" title="5.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-buildenv" rel="section" title="5.4 How can I install a developer's environment to build packages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-missing" rel="section" title="5.5 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-no-devs" rel="section" title="5.6 Why do I get "ld: cannot find -lfoo" messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-java" rel="section" title="5.7 (How) Does Debian support Java?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-isitdebian" rel="section" title="5.8 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-nonenglish" rel="section" title="5.9 How does Debian support non-English languages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-pine" rel="section" title="5.10 Where is pine?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-qmail" rel="section" title="5.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-flash" rel="section" title="5.12 Where is a player for Flash (SWF)?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-googleearth" rel="section" title="5.13 Where is Google Earth?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-voip" rel="section" title="5.14 Where is VoIP software?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-nonfreewireless" rel="section" title="5.15 I have a wireless network card which doesn't work with Linux. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dists" rel="section" title="6.1 How many Debian distributions are there?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-codenames" rel="section" title="6.2 What are all those names like etch, lenny, etc.?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-sid" rel="section" title="6.3 What about "sid"?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-stable" rel="section" title="6.4 What does the stable directory contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-testing" rel="section" title="6.5 What does the testing distribution contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-unstable" rel="section" title="6.6 What does the unstable distribution contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dirtree" rel="section" title="6.7 What are all those directories at the Debian FTP archives?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-archsections" rel="section" title="6.8 What are all those directories inside <samp>dists/stable/main</samp>?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-source" rel="section" title="6.9 Where is the source code?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-pools" rel="section" title="6.10 What's in the <samp>pool</samp> directory?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-incoming" rel="section" title="6.11 What is "incoming"?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-ownrepository" rel="section" title="6.12 How do I set up my own apt-able repository?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-package" rel="section" title="7.1 What is a Debian package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-deb-format" rel="section" title="7.2 What is the format of a Debian binary package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pkgname" rel="section" title="7.3 Why are Debian package file names so long?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-controlfile" rel="section" title="7.4 What is a Debian control file?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-conffile" rel="section" title="7.5 What is a Debian conffile?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-maintscripts" rel="section" title="7.6 What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-priority" rel="section" title="7.7 What is an <em>Essential</em>, <em>Required</em>, <em>Important</em>, <em>Standard</em>, <em>Optional</em>, or <em>Extra</em> package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-virtual" rel="section" title="7.8 What is a Virtual Package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-depends" rel="section" title="7.9 What is meant by saying that a package <em>Depends</em>, <em>Recommends</em>, <em>Suggests</em>, <em>Conflicts</em>, <em>Replaces</em> or <em>Provides</em> another package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pre-depends" rel="section" title="7.10 What is meant by Pre-Depends?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pkgstatus" rel="section" title="7.11 What is meant by <em>unknown</em>, <em>install</em>, <em>remove</em>, <em>purge</em> and <em>hold</em> in the package status?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-puttingonhold" rel="section" title="7.12 How do I put a package on hold?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-sourcepkgs" rel="section" title="7.13 How do I install a source package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-sourcebuild" rel="section" title="7.14 How do I build binary packages from a source package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-creatingdebs" rel="section" title="7.15 How do I create Debian packages myself?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-pkgprogs" rel="section" title="8.1 What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-updaterunning" rel="section" title="8.2 Debian claims to be able to update a running program; how is this accomplished?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-whatpackages" rel="section" title="8.3 How can I tell what packages are already installed on a Debian system?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-listfiles" rel="section" title="8.4 How to display the files of a package installed?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-filesearch" rel="section" title="8.5 How can I find out what package produced a particular file?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-datapackages" rel="section" title="8.6 Why doesn't get `foo-data' removed when I uninstall `foo'? How do I make sure old unused library-packages get purged?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-howtocurrent" rel="section" title="9.1 How can I keep my Debian system current?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-upgradesingle" rel="section" title="9.2 Must I go into single user mode in order to upgrade a package?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-savedebs" rel="section" title="9.3 Do I have to keep all those .deb archive files on my disk?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-keepingalog" rel="section" title="9.4 How can I keep a log of the packages I added to the system? I'd like to know when which package upgrades and removals have occured!">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-autoupdate" rel="section" title="9.5 Can I automatically update the system?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-aptproxy" rel="section" title="9.6 I have several machines how can I download the updates only one time?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-non-debian-kernel" rel="section" title="10.1 Can I install and compile a kernel without some Debian-specific tweaking?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-customkernel" rel="section" title="10.2 What tools does Debian provide to build custom kernels?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-custombootdisk" rel="section" title="10.3 How can I make a custom boot floppy?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-modules" rel="section" title="10.4 What special provisions does Debian provide to deal with modules?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-removeoldkernel" rel="section" title="10.5 Can I safely de-install an old kernel package, and if so, how?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-papersize" rel="section" title="11.1 How can I ensure that all programs use the same paper size?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-hardwareaccess" rel="section" title="11.2 How can I provide access to hardware peripherals, without compromising security?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-consolefont" rel="section" title="11.3 How do I load a console font on startup the Debian way?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-appdefaults" rel="section" title="11.4 How can I configure an X11 program's application defaults?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-booting" rel="section" title="11.5 Every distribution seems to have a different boot-up method. Tell me about Debian's.">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-custombootscripts" rel="section" title="11.6 It looks as if Debian does not use <samp>rc.local</samp> to customize the boot process; what facilities are provided?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-interconffiles" rel="section" title="11.7 How does the package management system deal with packages that contain configuration files for other packages?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-divert" rel="section" title="11.8 How do I override a file installed by a package, so that a different version can be used instead?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-localpackages" rel="section" title="11.9 How can I have my locally-built package included in the list of available packages that the package management system knows about?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-diverse" rel="section" title="11.10 Some users like mawk, others like gawk; some like vim, others like elvis; some like trn, others like tin; how does Debian support diversity?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-debiandocs" rel="section" title="12.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-onlineresources" rel="section" title="12.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-searchtools" rel="section" title="12.3 Is there a quick way to search for information on Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-buglogs" rel="section" title="12.4 Are there logs of known bugs?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-bugreport" rel="section" title="12.5 How do I report a bug in Debian?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contrib" rel="section" title="13.1 How can I become a Debian software developer?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contribresources" rel="section" title="13.2 How can I contribute resources to the Debian project?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-supportingorganizations" rel="section" title="13.3 How can I contribute financially to the Debian project?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-sellcds" rel="section" title="14.1 Can I make and sell Debian CDs?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-packagednonfree" rel="section" title="14.2 Can Debian be packaged with non-free software?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-childistro" rel="section" title="14.3 I am making a special Linux distribution for a "vertical market". Can I use Debian GNU/Linux for the guts of a Linux system and add my own applications on top of it?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-commercialdebs" rel="section" title="14.4 Can I put my commercial program in a Debian "package" so that it installs effortlessly on any Debian system?">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-i18n" rel="section" title="15.1 Extended support for non-English users">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-dependencybasedboot" rel="section" title="15.2 Faster booting: Dependency based boot sequence">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-di" rel="section" title="15.3 Improvements in the Debian Installer">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-morearches" rel="section" title="15.4 More architectures">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-morekernels" rel="section" title="15.5 More kernels">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors" rel="section" title="16.1 Authors">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-feedback" rel="section" title="16.2 Feedback">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-latest" rel="section" title="16.3 Availability">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-docformat" rel="section" title="16.4 Document format">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.1" rel="subsection" title="3.1.1 You asked me to install stable, but in stable so and so hardware is not detected/working. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.2" rel="subsection" title="3.1.2 Will there be different different versions of packages in different distributions?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.3" rel="subsection" title="3.1.3 The stable distributions really contains outdated packages. Just look at Kde, Gnome, Xorg or even the kernel. They are very old. Why is it so?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.4" rel="subsection" title="3.1.4 If I were to decide to change to another distribution, Can I do that?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.5" rel="subsection" title="3.1.5 Could you tell me whether to install testing or unstable?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.6" rel="subsection" title="3.1.6 You are talking about testing being broken. What do you mean by that?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.7" rel="subsection" title="3.1.7 Why is it that testing could be broken for months? Wont the fixes introduced in unstable flow directly down into testing?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.8" rel="subsection" title="3.1.8 From an administrator's point of view, Which distribution requires more attention?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.9" rel="subsection" title="3.1.9 What happens when a new release is made?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.10" rel="subsection" title="3.1.10 I have a working Desktop/cluster with Debian installed. How do I know which distribution I am running?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.11" rel="subsection" title="3.1.11 I am currently tracking stable. Can I change to testing or unstable? If so, How?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.12" rel="subsection" title="3.1.12 I am currently tracking testing (lenny). What will happen when a release is made? Will I still be tracking testing or will my machine be running the new stable distribution?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.13" rel="subsection" title="3.1.13 I am still confused. What did you say I should install?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.1" rel="subsection" title="3.2.1 I know that Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... is Debian-based. So after installing it on the hard disk, can I use 'apt' package tools on it?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.2" rel="subsection" title="3.2.2 I installed Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... on my hard disk. Now I have a problem. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.3" rel="subsection" title="3.2.3 I'm using Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... and now I want to use Debian. How do I migrate?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-oldcodenames" rel="subsection" title="6.2.1 Which other codenames have been used in the past?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-sourceforcodenames" rel="subsection" title="6.2.2 Where do these codenames come from?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-frozen" rel="subsection" title="6.5.1 What about "testing"? How is it `frozen'?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg" rel="subsection" title="8.1.1 dpkg">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-apt-get" rel="subsection" title="8.1.2 APT">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-aptitude" rel="subsection" title="8.1.3 aptitude">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-synaptic" rel="subsection" title="8.1.4 synaptic">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-tasksel" rel="subsection" title="8.1.5 tasksel">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-extra" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6 Other package management tools">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dselect" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.1 dselect">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-deb" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.2 dpkg-deb">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-split" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.3 dpkg-split">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-aptitude-upgrade" rel="subsection" title="9.1.1 aptitude">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-apt" rel="subsection" title="9.1.2 apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-update_aptitude" rel="subsection" title="9.1.3 aptitude">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-mirror" rel="subsection" title="9.1.4 mirror">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-dpkg-mountable" rel="subsection" title="9.1.5 dpkg-mountable">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.1" rel="subsection" title="12.2.1 Mailing lists">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-mailinglistconduct" rel="subsection" title="12.2.1.1 What is the code of conduct for the mailing lists?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.2" rel="subsection" title="12.2.2 Web forums">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.3" rel="subsection" title="12.2.3 Wiki">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.4" rel="subsection" title="12.2.4 Maintainers">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.5" rel="subsection" title="12.2.5 Usenet newsgroups">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-SPI" rel="subsection" title="13.3.1 Software in the Public Interest">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-FSF" rel="subsection" title="13.3.2 Free Software Foundation">
</head>
<body>
<p><a name="ch-software"></a></p>
<hr>
<p>
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">12</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">13</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">14</a> ]
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</p>
<hr>
<h1>
The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
<br>Chapter 5 - Software available in the Debian system
</h1>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-apps"></a>5.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?</h2>
<p>
Like most Linux distributions, Debian GNU/Linux provides:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
the major GNU applications for software development, file manipulation, and
text processing, including gcc, g++, make, texinfo, Emacs, the Bash shell and
numerous upgraded Unix utilities,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk and various related programs, modules and libraries for
each of them,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
TeX (LaTeX) and Lyx, dvips, Ghostscript,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
the Xorg windowing system, which provides a networked graphical user interface
for Linux, and countless X applications including the GNOME, KDE and Xfce
desktop environments.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
a full suite of networking applications, including servers for Internet
protocols such as HTTP (WWW), FTP, NNTP (news), SMTP and POP (mail) and DNS
(name servers); relational databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL; also provided are
web browsers including the various Mozilla products [<a
href="footnotes.en.html#f1" name="fr1">1</a>],
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
a complete set of office applications, including the OpenOffice.org
productivity suite, Gnumeric and other spreadsheets, WYSIWYG editors,
calendars.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
More than 18040 packages, ranging from news servers and readers to sound
support, FAX programs, database and spreadsheet programs, image processing
programs, communications, net, and mail utilities, Web servers, and even
ham-radio programs are included in the distribution. Another 560 software
suites are available as Debian packages, but are not formally part of Debian
due to license restrictions.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-softwareauthors"></a>5.2 Who wrote all that software?</h2>
<p>
For each package the <em>authors</em> of the program(s) are credited in the
file <samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright</samp>, where PACKAGE is to be
substituted with the package's name.
</p>
<p>
<em>Maintainers</em> who package this software for the Debian GNU/Linux system
are listed in the Debian control file (see <a
href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-controlfile">What is a Debian control file?,
Section 7.4</a>) that comes with each package. The Debian changelog, in
<samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/changelog.Debian.gz</samp>, mentions the people
who've worked on the Debian packaging too.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-pkglist"></a>5.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?</h2>
<p>
A complete list is available from any of the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/ftplist">Debian mirrors</a></code>, in the
file <samp>indices/Maintainers</samp>. That file includes the package names
and the names and e-mails of their respective maintainers.
</p>
<p>
The <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/">WWW interface to the Debian
packages</a></code> conveniently summarizes the packages in each of about
thirty "sections" of the Debian archive.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-buildenv"></a>5.4 How can I install a developer's environment to build packages?</h2>
<p>
If you want to build packages in your Debian system you will need to have a
basic development environment, including a C/C++ compiler and some other
essential packages. In order to install this environment you just need to
install the <code>build-essential</code>. This package is a meta-package or
place-holder package which depends on the standard development tools one needs
to build a Debian package.
</p>
<p>
Some software can, however, need additional software to be rebuilt, including
library headers or additional tools such as <code>autoconf</code> or
<code>gettext</code>. Debian provides many of the tools needed to build other
software as Debian packages.
</p>
<p>
Finding which software is precisely required can be tricky, however, unless you
are planning on rebuilding Debian packages. This last task is rather easy to
do, as official packages have to include a list of the additional software
(besides the packages in <code>build-essential</code>) needed to build the
pacakge, this is known as <samp>Build-Dependencies</samp>. To install all the
packages needed to build a given source package and then build said source
package you can just run:
</p>
<pre>
# apt-get build-dep <var>foo</var>
# apt-get source --build <var>foo</var>
</pre>
<p>
Notice that if you want to build the Linux kernels distributed by Debian you
will want to install also the <code>kernel-package</code> package. For more
information see <a href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-customkernel">What tools does
Debian provide to build custom kernels?, Section 10.2</a>.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-missing"></a>5.5 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?</h2>
<p>
A list of packages which are still needed to be packaged for Debian exists, the
<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/">Work-Needing and Prospective
Packages list</a></code>.
</p>
<p>
For more details about adding the missing things, see <a
href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contrib">How can I become a Debian software
developer?, Section 13.1</a>.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-no-devs"></a>5.6 Why do I get "ld: cannot find -lfoo" messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?</h2>
<p>
Debian Policy requires that such symbolic links (to libfoo.so.x.y.z or similar)
are placed in separate, development packages. Those packages are usually named
libfoo-dev or libfooX-dev (presuming the library package is named libfooX, and
X is a whole number).
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-java"></a>5.7 (How) Does Debian support Java?</h2>
<p>
Several <em>free</em> implementations of Java technology are available as
Debian packages, providing both Java Development Kits as well as Runtime
Environments. You can write, debug and run Java programs using Debian.
</p>
<p>
Running a Java applet requires a web browser with the capability to recognize
and execute them. Several web browsers available in Debian, such as Mozilla or
Konqueror, support Java plug-ins that enable running Java applets within them.
</p>
<p>
Please refer to the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-java-faq/">Debian Java
FAQ</a></code> for more information.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-isitdebian"></a>5.8 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?</h2>
<p>
In order to make sure that your system has been installed from the real Debian
base disks check for the existence of <samp>/etc/debian_version</samp> file,
which contains a single one-line entry giving the version number of the
release, as defined by the package <samp>base-files</samp>.
</p>
<p>
The existence of the program <samp>dpkg</samp> shows that you should be able to
install Debian packages on your system, but as the program has been ported to
many other operating systems and architectures, this is no longer a reliable
method of determining is a system Debian GNU/Linux.
</p>
<p>
Users should be aware, however, that the Debian system consists of many parts,
each of which can be updated (almost) independently. Each Debian
"release" contains well defined and unchanging contents. Updates are
separately available. For a one-line description of the installation status of
package <samp>foo</samp>, use the command <samp>dpkg --list foo</samp>. To
view versions of all installed packages, run:
</p>
<pre>
dpkg -l
</pre>
<p>
For a more verbose description, use:
</p>
<pre>
dpkg --status foo
</pre>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-nonenglish"></a>5.9 How does Debian support non-English languages?</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Debian GNU/Linux is distributed with keymaps for nearly two dozen keyboards,
and with utilities (in the <samp>kbd</samp> package) to install, view, and
modify the tables.
</p>
<p>
The installation prompts the user to specify the keyboard he will use.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Vast majority of the software we packaged supports entering non-US-ASCII
characters used in other Latin languages (e.g. ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-2), and
a number of programs support multi-byte languages such as Japanese or Chinese.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Currently, support for German-, Spanish-, Finnish-, French-, Hungarian-,
Italian-, Japanese-, Korean-, Dutch-, Polish-, Portuguese-, Russian-, Turkish-,
and Chinese-language manual pages is provided through the
<samp>manpages-LANG</samp> packages (where LANG is the two-letter ISO country
code). To access an NLS manual page, the user must set the shell LC_MESSAGES
variable to the appropriate string.
</p>
<p>
For example, in the case of the Italian-language manual pages, LC_MESSAGES
needs to be set to 'italian'. The <code>man</code> program will then search
for Italian manual pages under <samp>/usr/share/man/it/</samp>.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-pine"></a>5.10 Where is pine?</h2>
<p>
Due to its restrictive license, it's in the non-free area. Moreover, since
license does not even allow modified binaries to be distributed, you have to
compile it yourself from the source and the Debian patches.
</p>
<p>
The source package name is <code>pine</code>. You can use the
<code>pine-tracker</code> package to be notified about when you need to
upgrade.
</p>
<p>
Note that there are many replacements for both pine and pico, such as
<code>mutt</code> and <code>nano</code>, that are located in the main section.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-qmail"></a>5.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?</h2>
<p>
Dan J. Bernstein used to distribute <code><a
href="http://cr.yp.to/software.html">all software he has written</a></code>
with a restrictive license which does not allow modified binaries to be
distributed. In november 2007 however, Bernstein said "[...] i have
decided to put all of my future and [...] past software into the public
domain". See <code><a href="http://cr.yp.to/distributors.html">FAQ from
distributors</a></code> for his distribution terms.
</p>
<p>
As of 2008-04, <code>daemontools</code>, <code>djbdns</code> and
<code>ucspi-tcp</code> are shipped with Debian lenny (in main). As of this
writing (2008-04), <code>qmail</code> is not yet packaged for Debian main; see
<code><a href="http://bugs.debian.org/457318">Bug #457318 (ITP
qmail)</a></code> for the current status.
</p>
<p>
As of 2008-04, <samp>publicfile</samp> and <samp>ezmlm</samp> were still not
free software. For <samp>ezmlm</samp>, there's the <code>ezmlm-src</code>
package in the non-free area.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-flash"></a>5.12 Where is a player for Flash (SWF)?</h2>
<p>
Debian ships both <code>gnash</code> and <code>swfdec</code>: two free SWF
movie players.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-googleearth"></a>5.13 Where is Google Earth?</h2>
<p>
Google Earth is available for GNU/Linux from Google's web site, but is not only
not Free Software, but is completely undistributable by a third party.
However, <code>googleearth-package</code> (in the contrib-section) might be
helpful in using this software.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-voip"></a>5.14 Where is VoIP software?</h2>
<p>
Two main open protocols are used for Voice Over IP: SIP and H.323. Both are
implemented by a wide variety of software in Debian main. <code>ekiga</code>
is one of the popular clients.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="s-nonfreewireless"></a>5.15 I have a wireless network card which doesn't work with Linux. What should I do?</h2>
<p>
Buy one which does :)
</p>
<p>
Alternatively, use <code>ndiswrapper</code> to use a driver for Windows (if you
have one) on your Linux system. See the <code><a
href="http://wiki.debian.org/NdisWrapper">Debian Wiki ndiswapper
page</a></code> for more information.
</p>
<hr>
<p>
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-getting.en.html">2</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-choosing.en.html">3</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">4</a> ]
[ 5 ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">6</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">7</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">8</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">9</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">10</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">11</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">12</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">13</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">14</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">15</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">16</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">next</a> ]
</p>
<hr>
<p>
The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
</p>
<address>
version 4.0.4+nmu1, 3 January 2010<br>
<br>
Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br>
<br>
</address>
<hr>
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